According to him, 85% of transfers or about $14.5 billion accounted for Russia, which was 2.6 times more than in 2021.
“We cannot say that in our monitoring of monetary indicators, all these $17 billion will serve to form domestic gross demand. We receive these remittances of around $11.5-$12 billion as an influencing factor in the formation of gross demand in us,” he said.
As he says, this difference is due to the fact that during 2022, a certain amount of cash shortage occurred in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, due to which certain restrictions were introduced in banks. In such conditions, citizens of this country transferred foreign currency to Uzbekistan and withdrew cash through Uzbek banks.
“Now it is somewhat difficult for us to express it in numbers. Because we do not ask for customers’ nationality when distributing money transfers. But we are constantly monitoring this matter, depending on the change in the number of citizens crossing and entering the border areas of neighboring countries,” he explained.
Buying currency from the population, selling currency to individuals, as well as the difference between indicators. Source: Central Bank.
Against the background of increased flow of remittances, indicators of foreign exchange operations also increased. In January-December, banks bought $11.9 billion worth of currency from the population, which is $4.8 billion or 1.7 times more than in 2021. At the same time, individuals bought $8.9 billion worth of foreign currency, which is $4.3 billion, or nearly as higher as twice, from the previous year.
In general, the volume of supply exceeded demand by $2.9 billion (it was $2.5 billion).
The volume of remittances from Uzbekistan to other countries increased by 29% and amounted to $2.1 billion. According to the head of the Central Bank, there are “no fundamental changes” in the composition of the host countries.
“Basically, these are Turkey, China, that is, the countries with which the term “shuttle trade” is associated. Remittances to the US have increased. There is also India, where citizens go for treatment,” he said.
